Help! How do you properly skin the shoulders and hips so that the deformations look believable? Influence Objects? Blendshapes? What is the best least time consuming method? I've rig a whole character with rigid bind, and got the one-axis rotation joints (elbows/knees) to look right with flexors, but how do I get good results on the three-axis shoulders/hips without pinch or crashing the skin? (Software used is Maya 7.0).

Dichotomy

10-12-2005, 05:49 PM

its really up to you how you want to do those. Blend shapes/influenceObjects... I've typically used influence objects in the past... they are pretty quick to set up, but they are troublesome to try to go back and edit, blends would be easier to edit later on. I found the biggest issue is how to drive either of them... using the rotate of the shoulder has given big trouble because when you twist your arm, your rotations change and then the blends/influences dont work properly. I've been planning on setting it up to use the location of the elbowJoint to drive the blends... but I haven't been able to get to that yet.
Usually a good influence object works fine for hips, but I've seen some people do a really nice job with just skinning carefully.

donShole

10-12-2005, 06:19 PM

Maybe pose deformation can work for you:
http://www.comet-cartoons.com/toons/melscript.cfm

ckl

10-13-2005, 02:31 AM

thanks for the quick replies. The pose deformer from Comet's page doesn't seem to work in Maya 7. Is there a latest version of Comet's Pose Deformer for Maya 7?

ckl

10-13-2005, 02:49 AM

Comet's pose deformer doesn't work for Maya 7. Is there an update version that will?

Arcon

10-13-2005, 03:40 AM

Comet's pose deformer doesn't work for Maya 7. Is there an update version that will?

Comet's website says it should work in 7.0... what error are you getting..?

I would advise against using rigid skin, in fact.... i'm not sure but poseDeformer might only work on smooth skin nodes which could explain your problem?

To get believable deformation in the shuolders and hips you really need to not just use blendshapes, but script your own blending routines for the targets. Or, you can get some pretty decent results with Comet's poseDeformer. good skinning gets you 25% of the way to realistic. even careful weighting isn't likely to preserve flesh volume very well, not for a good range of joint rotations.

I wouldn't ask for the least time-consuming method 'cuase it will suck ;) getting believable deformation is time-consuming.

ckl

10-13-2005, 04:24 PM

thanks for the response, I've gotten Comet's pose deformer to work in Maya 7. I guess I was using the wrong version.

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